Belfast Exposed

Belfast Exposed

Belfast Exposed
23 Donegall Street
Belfast
BT1 2FF
United Kingdom

Opening Hours

Gallery opening hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm, Tuesday to Saturday

Office opening hours: 9:30am - 5:30pm, Monday to Saturday

Belfast Exposed comprises of a contemporary gallery, futures gallery, community engagement programmes, photography training courses, bookshop, reading room and archive.

Belfast Exposed is Northern Ireland’s principal gallery of contemporary photography, commissioning, publishing and showing work by artists and photographers from Northern Ireland and across the world. 

Founded in 1983 by a group of local photographers as a challenge to media representation of the city’s experience of conflict, our work continues to reflect a socially engaged ethos, while responding to contemporary currents in photography and politics further afield. Located in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, our exhibitions, publications and photography projects with artists and local communities are usually accompanied by related talks, community events and discussions.

Open for browsing during gallery hours, our Bookshop stocks a range of thought provoking photographic, arts and social sciences titles, while our Reading Roomprovides welcoming space for study and research, with access to an extensive collection of books and reference materials. A selection of almost 2,000 images from our archive has been digitised and made available for browsing on the iMac in the upstairs Exchange Gallery. A smaller selection is accessible online.

Belfast Exposed also provides Photography Courses for the general public and designs bespoke photography training for schools, colleges, businesses and community groups.

Gallery opening hours during exhibitions: 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. 

Contact us for more information.

Belfast Exposed's Content

Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

Lith printing is one of the more modern alternative photographic techniques, as it was invented in the 1970s. It is a photographic printing process, that uses standard black-and-white photographic paper with lithographic developer (often heavily diluted standard developer) to produce a print with dark shadows and soft, bright highlights. It can give varying levels of contrast for the same exposure conditions.
Dates:
27 July 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

Street photography is the art of capturing life, culture and humanity, commonly in a candid manner. A street photograph usually features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places, and often has an idea, story or message going on beneath the surface. This creative and practical course will help you to develop and gain confidence in street photography, how to approach your subject, shoot candid shits and develop your personal style and technique.
Dates:
01 June 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

Day 1 will be based in the Belfast Exposed studio where we will fully prepare you with the knowledge to move into the field of landscape photography with confidence, looking at both historical and contemporary work. Day 2 is on location. The location will be decided on day 1, as well as the choice between a morning sunrise shoot or an evening sunset shoot. Day 3 is back in the studio. The photographs taken on day 2 will be reviewed, with the tutor providing valuable, constructive feedback. Followed by further teaching on the subject.
Dates:
29 June 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

You will gain knowledge of studio lighting setups and techniques to enable you to take quality studio images from family portraits and stylish fashion shots, to interesting still lifes and eye-catching products. You will learn how to set up the lights and various lighting techniques that you can easily replicate in your home as the cost of studio lighting has fallen dramatically.
Dates:
03 August 201910 August 201917 August 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

You will learn new camera settings and develop your photography skills, focusing on how to use white balance, metering, bracketing, focusing, histogram and more. This course will also enable you to apply a practical and theoretical knowledge to help you use a digital camera effectively and creatively.
Dates:
01 June 201908 June 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

Cyanotype printing and Van Dyke Brown printing are both contact printing processes, where a negative or an object is placed onto photosensitised paper or fabric, and exposed to the sun or a UV light. Photosensitive emulsion is brushed onto the paper by hand, making each print unique. This camera-less, iron-based technique was invented by John Herschel in 1842. Cyanotype produces a Prussian cyan-blue print. Van Dyke Brown produces a deep brown print, similar to the popular paint pigment, Van Dyke Brown.
Dates:
23 March 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

Wet Plate Collodion is a 19th century photography process of creating images on glass or metal plates. This one day, intensive workshop will let you relive the excitement experienced by the pioneers of photography. Each participant will shoot and process their own unique ambrotypes, from start to finish.
Dates:
22 June 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

This practical, hands-on course is designed for intermediates, and those who have completed or are already familiar with the topics covered in ‘Level 1: Introduction To Your Digital Camera’ and ‘Level 2: Develop Your Photography Skills’. Documentary photography seeks to capture real-life events as they occur and communicate these events through photography to a wider audience. The images aim to inform the viewer of a place or time in history, bringing a truthful representation of events. Using the Belfast Exposed archive as a catalyst, the course offers contextual knowledge together with the technical skills and project planning skills. The course will cover all areas of documentary photography, from its origins and working photographers to setting challenges for each participant to think about their photography and the development of their project.
Dates:
09 March 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Training/Advice Workshop

Belfast Exposed

This practical, hands-on course is designed both for beginners and those wishing to refresh previous knowledge. You will get an introduction to your camera’s manual controls, focusing on how to control aperture, shutter speed and ISO to correctly expose your photographs. This course will also enable you to apply a practical and theoretical knowledge to help you use a digital camera effectively and creatively.
Dates:
06 July 2019
Belfast
Event
Art & Culture Fundraiser

Belfast Exposed

As part of Late Night Art, on Thursday 6th December 7pm-9pm, Victor will be available in Belfast Exposed Gallery for a special signing event of his limited edition prints. Due to Victor’s popularity, it is anticipated these amazing prints will be in high demand.
Dates:
06 December 2018
Belfast

More Information

Type of Organisation

VCSE

Team

  • Conor O'Brien
  • Pauline Hadaway